MA - Nelson's Sparrow in Hadley

Nelson's Sparrow - Hadley Pump House, Hampshire Co., MA. October 17th, 2022.

A long stayer and super find for Janice Jorgensen on October 11th, 2022. 

Long time, no blog feature...indeed it's been a while. A busy period of tour leading in late 2022 through May 2023 followed by a few life changes at home left me with little time for the blog lately. But even so, today I was very appreciative to see a relatively local Nelson's Sparrow, admittedly not my find but a Nelson's Sparrow in the Pioneer Valley is well worth the 40 minute drive from home and looking back at my records, it's a cool thirteen years since I last saw one! Indeed, the last Nelson's I saw in the valley was pretty interesting in the sense that it was quite late (October 20th, 2009) but also showed characteristics of the coastal form A. n. subvirgata. 

Today's Nelson's Sparrow looked like a nice example of one of the interior forms A. n. interior/alterus as noted by the many observers visiting the site since October 11th. Janice Jorgensen originally found the bird and Scott Surner neatly followed up her observation with good, to-the-point, directions and advice. Personally I was amazed that the bird would still be present after a 'cool' seven days of staging in the same area but I was super happy that it stuck around. The venue was the Hadley Pumping Station, a site I always enjoyed visiting when we lived in Amherst from 2005 to 2010. Good numbers of Song, Swamp and White-throated Sparrows were present too and the Nelson's would pop into view periodically, often showing very well, and sometimes too close to focus my 400 mm lens.....overall, a delightful experience.

Nelson's Sparrow - Hadley Pump House, Hampshire Co., MA. October 17th, 2022.

Nelson's Sparrow - Hadley Honey Pot, Hampshire Co., MA. October 20th, 2009.

Just reflecting on the last Nelson's Sparrow I saw in the Pioneer Valley, a nice example of the 

 coastal form A. n. subvirgata. This bird was in a fallow, weedy field next the Hadley Transfer Station. 

The favored habitat of the current Nelson's Sparrow at the Hadley Pump House off Mount Warner Road. 

NJ - Cape May - Day 2 October 11th

Saltmarsh Sparrow - Two Mile Landing, Wildwood Crest, Cape May Co., NJ. October 11th, 2018. 
Image appears courtesy of David Hughes. 

We awoke to some seriously heavy showers and thunderstorms fueled by a brisk south-easterly wind. Our plan for seeing the Morning Flight at Higbee Beach was washed out on the first morning of the tour so we ultimately opted for a seawatch under cover at the end Sunset Boulevard on Cape May Island. Within minutes we started to see Parasitic Jaegers passing south, some distant but many fairly close to shore between the beach and the 'Concrete Ship'. We settled in for what would become an extremely enjoyable three hour seawatch tallying around 100 Parasitic Jaegers along with a seemingly endless stream of Laughing Gulls, Forster's Terns, some Royal Terns and a few Common Terns, plus flocks of Surf and Black Scoters and with a single southbound Brown Pelican. Bald Eagle, Osprey, Peregrine and Great Blue Heron all came in off the bay whilst we were there.

Brown Pelican - southbound over Delaware Bay from Sunset Beach, Cape May Island. October 11th, 2018. 

This would prove to be the only Brown Pelican of the whole tour. 

Black Scoters - Delaware Bay from Sunset Beach, Cape May Island. October 11th, 2018. 

Laughing Gulls and Forster's Terns  - 'Concrete Ship' from Sunset Beach, Cape May Island. October 11th, 2018. 

Great Blue Heron - southbound over Delaware Bay from Sunset Beach, Cape May Island. October 11th, 2018. 

Parasitic Jaeger - southbound over Delaware Bay from Sunset Beach, Cape May Island. October 11th, 2018. 
An excellent morning for this species with around 100 counted over three hours from 07:15 am.

After an enjoyable brunch at a Beach Ave restaurant, we headed north with some tricky salt marsh species in mind, in particular the Ammodramus sparrow group. Fortunately, though windy, the weather cleared up enough for us to spend several hours at Two Mile Landing where we ultimately had a brilliant sparrow study with exquisite views of Seaside, Saltmarsh and Nelson's Sparrow close together. A Clapper Rail jumped in on the action too and with Brant, Semi-palmated and Least Sandpipers and Boat-tailed Grackles all on show, we were kept busy for a while. After a short coffee break in Wildwood with Fish Crows calling around the cafe, the showers returned and set in for the evening. We ended up back under cover at the end of Sunset Boulevard where we were treated at an amazing show of Royal Terns streaming south, presumably heading for  roost, and a huge flock of Black Skimmers heading NW across the bay.

Nelson's and Saltmarsh Sparrows - Two Mile Landing, Wildwood Crest, Cape May Co., NJ. October 11th, 2018. 

Nelson's Sparrow - Two Mile Landing, Wildwood Crest, Cape May Co., NJ. October 11th, 2018. 

Seaside Sparrow - Two Mile Landing, Wildwood Crest, Cape May Co., NJ. October 11th, 2018. 

A brilliant (if not a little challenging) first day came to an end with a fine evening meal at a local Cape May restaurant.

MA - Nelson's and other sparrows in Franklin County

Nelson's Sparrow - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. October 7th, 2018.

Image appears courtesy of Josh Layfield. 

The last three days have seen more than just a gradual shift from migrant warblers to migrant sparrows. Pride of place among the sparrows, hands-down, has to be the Nelson's Sparrow found and documented by Josh Layfield in Northfield on October 7th. This species has long been on my wish list for Franklin County, so for Josh to have one teed up for a solid minute just a mile from my house was especially galling! Despite being thoroughly searched for on the same day and the following days, the little beauty was never seen again. Opportunities for finding Nelson's Sparrows in our area are limited by fairly sparse accessible habitat and a narrow time window (late September to mid-October) in which to find migrants. Josh absolutely nailed his self-found lifer with some great images and even shot an eight second video!

Nelson's Sparrow - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. October 7th, 2018.

Image appears courtesy of Josh Layfield. 

Nelson's Sparrow - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. October 7th, 2018.

Image appears courtesy of Josh Layfield. 

Otherwise, small numbers of White-crowned Sparrows showed up at multiple sites in Northfield from October 6th, as did the continued passage of Lincoln's Sparrows, and  two to three Vesper Sparrows featured at Northfield Meadows from October 6th - 9th. 

Vesper Sparrow - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. October 8th, 2018.

Just when warbler migration appeared to be tapering, the Northfield Meadows concentrated over 150  Yellow-rumped and 35 Palm Warblers on October 9th, along with at least three more glorious Cape May Warblers - what an autumn it's been for that species!

Cape May Warbler (first-winter) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. October 9th, 2018.

Cape May Warbler (adult) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. October 9th, 2018.

A Pectoral Sandpiper was slightly out of place on North Cross Road, Gill on October 6th where the same morning also featured a flyover Bobolink and plenty of migrating Yellow-rumped, Palm and Blackpoll Warblers.